Average Weather in Granadilla Costa Rica

In Granadilla, the wet season is humid and overcast, the dry season is partly cloudy, and it is warm year round. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 61°F to 79°F and is rarely below 58°F or above 82°F.

Based on the tourism score, the best time of year to visit Granadilla for warm-weather activities is from mid December to late March.

The daily average high (red line) and low (blue line) temperature, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted lines are the corresponding average perceived temperatures.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the entire year of hourly average temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day of the year, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Clouds

In Granadilla, the average percentage of the sky covered by clouds experiences extreme seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year in Granadilla begins around November 25 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around April 9. On January 2, the clearest day of the year, the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy63% of the time, and overcast or mostly cloudy37% of the time.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 9 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around November 25. On June 5, the cloudiest day of the year, the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy96% of the time, and clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy4% of the time.

The percentage of time spent in each cloud cover band, categorized by the percentage of the sky covered by clouds.

Precipitation

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. The chance of wet days in Granadilla varies significantly throughout the year.

The wetter season lasts 7.0 months, from May 3 to December 3, with a greater than 29% chance of a given day being a wet day. The chance of a wet day peaks at 52% on October 6.

The drier season lasts 5.0 months, from December 3 to May 3. The smallest chance of a wet day is 7% on March 13.

Among wet days, we distinguish between those that experience rain alone, snow alone, or a mixture of the two. Based on this categorization, the most common form of precipitation throughout the year is rain alone, with a peak probability of 52% on October 6.

The percentage of days in which various types of precipitation are observed, excluding trace quantities: rain alone, snow alone, and mixed (both rain and snow fell in the same day).

Rainfall

To show variation within the months and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day of the year. Granadilla experiences extreme seasonal variation in monthly rainfall.

Rain falls throughout the year in Granadilla. The most rain falls during the 31 days centered around October 11, with an average total accumulation of 6.5 inches.

The least rain falls around March 16, with an average total accumulation of 0.8 inches.

The average rainfall (solid line) accumulated over the course of a sliding 31-day period centered on the day in question, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands. The thin dotted line is the corresponding average liquid-equivalent snowfall.

Sun

The length of the day in Granadilla does not vary substantially over the course of the year, staying within 42 minutes of 12 hours throughout. In 2018, the shortest day is December 21, with 11 hours, 33 minutes of daylight; the longest day is June 21, with 12 hours, 42 minutes of daylight.

The number of hours during which the Sun is visible (black line). From bottom (most yellow) to top (most gray), the color bands indicate: full daylight, twilight (civil, nautical, and astronomical), and full night.

The earliest sunrise is at 5:13 AM on May 29, and the latest sunrise is 45 minutes later at 5:58 AM on January 27. The earliest sunset is at 5:10 PM on November 16, and the latest sunset is 51 minutes later at 6:01 PM on July 12.

The solar day over the course of the year 2018. From bottom to top, the black lines are the previous solar midnight, sunrise, solar noon, sunset, and the next solar midnight. The day, twilights (civil, nautical, and astronomical), and night are indicated by the color bands from yellow to gray.

Humidity

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The muggier period of the year lasts for 7.7 months, from April 13 to December 5, during which time the comfort level is muggy, oppressive, or miserable at least 13% of the time. The muggiest day of the year is June 2, with muggy conditions 46% of the time.

The least muggy day of the year is January 24, with muggy conditions 2% of the time.

The percentage of time spent at various humidity comfort levels, categorized by dew point.

Wind

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Granadilla experiences mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The windier part of the year lasts for 4.1 months, from December 8 to April 12, with average wind speeds of more than 2.6 miles per hour. The windiest day of the year is February 5, with an average hourly wind speed of 3.5 miles per hour.

The calmer time of year lasts for 7.9 months, from April 12 to December 8. The calmest day of the year is September 12, with an average hourly wind speed of 1.7 miles per hour.

The average of mean hourly wind speeds (dark gray line), with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

The predominant average hourly wind direction in Granadilla varies throughout the year.

The wind is most often from the west for 1.2 months, from September 14 to October 21, with a peak percentage of 39% on October 4. The wind is most often from the east for 11 months, from October 21 to September 14, with a peak percentage of 70% on January 1.

Wind Direction

The percentage of hours in which the mean wind direction is from each of the four cardinal wind directions, excluding hours in which the mean wind speed is less than 1.0 mph. The lightly tinted areas at the boundaries are the percentage of hours spent in the implied intermediate directions (northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest).

Water Temperature

Granadilla is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average water temperature does not vary significantly over the course of the year, remaining within 1°F of 83°F throughout.

Average Water Temperature

The daily average water temperature (purple line), with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

Best Time of Year to Visit

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Granadilla throughout the year, we compute two travel scores.

The tourism score favors clear, rainless days with perceived temperatures between 65°F and 80°F. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Granadilla for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid December to late March, with a peak score in the first week of January.

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with perceived temperatures between 75°F and 90°F. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Granadilla for hot-weather activities is from mid December to mid April, with a peak score in the third week of March.

Methodology

For each hour between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM of each day in the analysis period (1980 to 2016), independent scores are computed for perceived temperature, cloud cover, and total precipitation. Those scores are combined into a single hourly composite score, which is then aggregated into days, averaged over all the years in the analysis period, and smoothed.

Our precipitation score, which is based on the three-hour precipitation centered on the hour in question, is 10 for no precipitation, falling linearly to 9 for trace precipitation, and to 0 for 0.04 inches of precipitation or more.

Our tourism temperature score is 0 for perceived temperatures below 50°F, rising linearly to 9 for 65°F, to 10 for 75°F, falling linearly to 9 for 80°F, and to 1 for 90°F or hotter.

Our beach/pool temperature score is 0 for perceived temperatures below 65°F, rising linearly to 9 for 75°F, to 10 for 82°F, falling linearly to 9 for 90°F, and to 1 for 100°F or hotter.

Growing Season

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

Temperatures in Granadilla are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year.

The percentage of time spent in various temperature bands. The black line is the percentage chance that a given day is within the growing season.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

Growing Degree Days

The average growing degree days accumulated over the course of the year, with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

Solar Energy

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy experiences significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The brighter period of the year lasts for 2.4 months, from February 4 to April 15, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter above 6.2 kWh. The brightest day of the year is March 23, with an average of 6.8 kWh.

The darker period of the year lasts for 5.9 months, from May 21 to November 17, with an average daily incident shortwave energy per square meter below 4.3 kWh. The darkest day of the year is October 11, with an average of 3.7 kWh.

The average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground per square meter (orange line), with 25th to 75th and 10th to 90th percentile bands.

Topography

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Granadilla are 9.935 deg latitude, -84.017 deg longitude, and 4,272 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Granadilla contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 965 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 4,315 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (6,978 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (12,490 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Granadilla is covered by grassland (58%), trees (24%), and cropland (15%), within 10 miles by trees (45%) and grassland (39%), and within 50 miles by trees (56%) and grassland (17%).

Data Sources

This report illustrates the typical weather in Granadilla, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016.

Temperature and Dew Point

There is only a single weather station, Juan Santamaría International Airport, in our network suitable to be used as a proxy for the historical temperature and dew point records of Granadilla.

At a distance of 22 kilometers from Granadilla, closer than our threshold of 150 kilometers, this station is deemed sufficiently nearby to be relied upon as our primary source for temperature and dew point records.

Other Data

All other weather data, including cloud cover, precipitation, wind speed and direction, and solar flux, come from NASA's MERRA-2 Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid.

Disclaimer

The information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site.

We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands.

We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader.